Wireless Routing Question

[Unit1138]

Hey everyone. Here's my dilemma: I'm at college living in a dorm with a residential wired network that requires the user to login every time the computer it's connected to is turned on. The college doesn't officially support game consoles so we need to figure out our own was to hook them up. What would the best way to hook my Xbox 360 and Wii up to the internet? My initial thought was getting an ethernet switch (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122140) and then hooking the console up directly to that. Other solutions I've heard include entering my laptop's (it's connected to the network) MAC address into the Xbox's settings while its plugged in. I've also thought about plugging it into a wireless router but I'm not sure if that would work. If anyone here can lend some insight into these proposed solutions or have any of their own, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Demilich]

I know you can purchase what is called an ethernet cross-over cable, and it will allow you to connect the Xbox 360 to the laptop's ethernet port, thus still enabling the laptop to use the internet, while using Xbox Live.

 

[blondie101010]

Hey everyone. Here's my dilemma: I'm at college living in a dorm with a residential wired network that requires the user to login every time the computer it's connected to is turned on. The college doesn't officially support game consoles so we need to figure out our own was to hook them up. What would the best way to hook my Xbox 360 and Wii up to the internet? My initial thought was getting an ethernet switch (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122140) and then hooking the console up directly to that. Other solutions I've heard include entering my laptop's (it's connected to the network) MAC address into the Xbox's settings while its plugged in. I've also thought about plugging it into a wireless router but I'm not sure if that would work. If anyone here can lend some insight into these proposed solutions or have any of their own, please let me know. Thanks.

It seems to me all your ideas are feasible. It could depend on the network in place but I strongly doubt it will cause you any inconvenient.

Since many people are probably already using wireless connections around you, it would be easier and cheaper to get a stable wired connection.

I would go for a switch!

 

[PohTayToez]

If you log in with a computer and then change the console's mac address to that of the computer it should work just fine. The other option would be to bridge a connection between a computer and the console.

A router or switch will not likely change the fact that you need to log on to the schools network for whatever device you have connected to it. Also, many schools have rules prohibiting the use of a private wireless router on the schools network, due to security concerns.